Marlin 981T Troubles

[wiggles90]

I bought this Marlin 981T at the begining of March because frankly I always loved my grandpa's tube fed guns and I needed something less expensive to shoot with.

Long story short the firearm has had fewer than 200 rounds though it, on the second trip to the range the first 20 shots went rather well. But in the middle of the second tube of ammo it stopped firing. On the ejected rounds there are no marks at all as they are not even struck. It almost seems as though it tries firing before the round is even picked up and chambered. I don’t believe it is even cocked once the bolt is locked down to fire. As the red ready to fire icon is already pushed in beneath the bolt body and only visible when chambering the next round.

I owned the firearm a grand total of 11 days before it was mailed in for service it has been sitting at Sports World in Tulsa where Marlin directed me to mail it for warranty service since the 17th of March. I just got off the phone with them and they are waiting for parts from Marlin still with no ETA at all. Since Marlin is currently moving their factory or some such. Has anyone else had any trouble getting Marlin to repair their stuff?

And is it because Remington now owns it that I have to wait on hold for an hour and forty minutes to speak with someone about this at Marlins customer service number? At this rate I had a more positive experience with Century Arms having to fix a canted site on a Golani Sporter 3 times before they got it right, they could at least give me an eta on repair completion and they also reimbursed the shipping charges, something that Marlin refuses to do.

Any similar experiences out there with Marlin or am I just that lucky?

 

[GCBurner]

Sounds kind of like a broken firing pin. I've never had that happen on a gun still under factory warranty, but since it is, they should definitely fix it. If that's what it is, you should probably think about buying a spare pin to put aside for when the warranty runs out.

 

[smurfman]

I have not had any issues like yours with Marlin but I have had them with Browning, Beretta, and a couple of others. In fact, I am still waiting on firing pins and springs for a Citori that I ordered back in 1998. I found it best to skip the manufacturer and buy any parts myself from whatever source I can get them from. Most guns are simple enough that even I can do repairs without much trouble.
It sounds possible that your gun may have been in need of a good cleaning to rid it of the factory lube/protectorant. I would have pulled the bolt from the receiver and blasted it thoroughly with an aerosol degreaser and then added a dab of a CLP type oil. I would have also taken the barreled action from the stock and done the same thing with the degreaser and CLP. Put them back together and it will probably work. I would have also looked very closely at the firing pin to see if it had broken. I had one new shotgun throw a pin after a few rounds and eventually found out that was a common occurance for that model. I am currently waiting for a firing pin for a Marlin 25N that broke last weekend, I bought it at Midway USA for a couple of dollars. It should be here by next weekend and I should have the gun up and running a few minutes after it arrives.
Factory warranties are nice but unless there is a major problem I do it myself as it is quicker and easier on the mind. I don't have the patience to wait weeks or months to get something simple fixed so do it myself. Fortunately, the manufacturers still put out pretty decent products and that is not a common occurance.

 

[wiggles90]

I stripped it down completely looked it over scrubbed it and had a local gun smith examine it before it was shipped off, the firing pin was not damaged.

 

[wiggles90]

I called the company that has the rifle they said they have replaced both the trigger assembly and the front half of the bolt. The have test fired it and are shipping it back today. A whole lot faster than the indefinite back order waiting for parts I was told before. I will post again if there are any more problems after I have had it out to the farm or range again.

 

[wingman]

I replaced my 981T trigger with a rifle basix pull is excellent groups at 50 yards are one hole with match ammo. Trigger was high considering cost of gun but to me worth it. Factory trigger IMO is poor,
rough to say the least.